Village View Colony in Monticello NY

[Ira Rogers]

If anyone is familiar with Village View Colony in the town of Monticello, please let me know.  It was built and run by my biological father, Domenick Lagonigro, from the late 1940s to early 1970s.  I never knew him but I learned about him after submitting my DNA to AncestryDNA.  Several of my biological cousins and a nephew have also been identified. They all knew Domenick and were familiar with his bungalow colony.  The colony is still standing (on Richardson Ave in Monticello) but the bungalows appear to be individually owned. 

[Manny]

Thanks for posting this Ira, I hope you can find some people here who were familiar with Village View Colony.  

My great grandparents used to run a couple of different boarding houses in Monticello in the early 1900's, a bit before your father owned Village View :-)

Amazing that you found your biological family through AncestryDNA.  Good luck with your research!

[Ira Rogers]

Thanks, Manny.  It has been an amazing journey to find my biological family (both sides in fact!).  When I was in NY last fall, I stopped in at the Sullivan County Clerk's office and the folks there helped me find the location of Domenick's colony through some 1940s documents.  I went to see the site which I expected to be bulldozed and developed, only to discover the buildings were still standing and being used(!) -- albeit no longer as a 1950s-style bungalow colony. Even the original pool appeared functional.  It was an emotional day with a "mission accomplished" feeling about it. 

Amazing all the stories we have about the Catskills era.  It was a true cultural phenomenon and I'm grateful to have shared in it, even as a youngster.  (Just as a reminder to you, my family stayed at Sunnycroft in 1956 & '57 -- happy times.)

Be well!